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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/22888564">Thunderwave</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/7s93/pseuds/7s93'>7s93</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Moving Forward [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Dungeons &amp; Dragons (Roleplaying Game), Just Roll With It (Podcast)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Angst, Falling In Love, Heartache, Insecurity, M/M, Not Canon Compliant, Realization, Sad, can someone open a window? it smells like DEPRESSING in here!, spoilers for s1 e19</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-02-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-02-25</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-01 11:02:03</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,833</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/22888564</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/7s93/pseuds/7s93</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Taxi realizes some things.</p><p>(Spoilers for S1 Ep. 19)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Br'aad Vengolor/Taxi</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Moving Forward [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1872241</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>90</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Thunderwave</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>what's up gamers. this is my first work for ao3, and kind of the first piece of writing that i've finished and been alright with. THIS CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR ARC 1 EPISODE 19. i listened to it like 3 days ago and still haven't gotten over it, so here's this! idk why i put in so much context for everything but.... its ok. i may even make this a series.... god knows there's not enough jrwi content on this website.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Taxi had always thought Oriana was the one. The keyword is thought. He didn’t know anymore. Sure, they grew as distant as could be as time stretched on, but they never had any reason to leave one another. Until now.</p><p>He had come to the Great King’s Wharf for her. He decided to stay to protect her. And yet, here he was. Stoic. Emotionless.</p><p>Oriana had thrown everything he’s done for her in the trash, saying that she’s leaving the Wharf. Saying that she doesn’t believe they can keep in contact. She broke up with him. Why wasn’t he angry?</p><p>When he thinks about her, of course, he remembers that he loved her. But he <em>loved</em> her. Past tense. He wracks his brain to find a time where he realized he didn’t love her anymore.</p><p>Maybe after she left the third time? No. He remembers that he chased after her and gifted her a crystal necklace. One that he’s never seen around her neck. Or maybe, his heart stung after she stopped greeting him with an ‘I’ve missed you.’ and said ‘What are you doing here?’ instead.</p><p>He remembers when he found her bloodied and battered in that alley. The night he arrived. He was terrified. Worried for her life. Glad that she even was alive after a graveyard scare earlier on. She gave him a look, one that he knew meant ‘I’ve got this’… even though she did not have it.</p><p>He also remembers that after her wounds were healed, he was no longer very worried about her. Instead, he was more worried about the (extremely irritating) half-elf warlock beside him who wore a shaken look. Taxi found himself longing to comfort the man, to still his small shakes and smooth his hair down. Taxi listened and longed he stuttered and stumbled over information that he had gotten out of seemingly nowhere.</p><p>Maybe that was the night. When despite hurting, Oriana spared Taxi nothing but a warning look and… and Br’aad looked at him like he was his world.</p><p>Even though the whole day, when Br’aad would do anything (attempt jokes, start a conversation, act a fool), Taxi would ignore or brush him off. But there he was, still smiling up at Taxi even though it seemed he had gone through… something. And Taxi looked back at him. He forgot about Oriana.</p><p>The half-elf was eventually comforted by his brother, and everything was settled with Oriana. Taxi was going to protect her, blah, blah, blah.</p><p>That's why their adventure started, the Five Fools, as they are affectionately called. And Taxi still forgets. Until she was mentioned, he always forgot the mission was to protect Oriana. It was always for her. Ever since they met, he did anything to make her happy. To keep her safe.</p><p>But now she was leaving. They had already made a huge mess for themselves, but she was still leaving him behind. For real this time. And he wasn’t upset. More confused. And what did she mean by “You’ll be fine, you have him.”?</p><p>His thoughts came to a halt as a dwarf, Mountain, began to slap his arm. Quite rough, if he says so himself. “Ow, stop, what the fuck?” Taxi says, turning to him. He points ahead at a… green blob? “Is… is that Hilltree?” Taxi squints and realizes that yes, that is Hilltree.</p><p>Let’s give some context. The party split. Which is never a good idea, but hey, what could Taxi do about it? Br’aad went with his brother Slynan (+ Hilltree) to retrieve information about their current enemy, while Velrissa, Taxi, and Mountain discussed plans and current information.</p><p>The goblin, Hilltree, hobbles over, stopping in front of them. “Hey?” Mountain says, more a question than anything. Oh shit, now he remembers. Taxi raises his eyebrow. “Uhh, why are you alone?” Taxi asks cause it’s a valid question. Hilltree shrugs. “Bored.” He says it like it’s the most unimportant thing, and that drives Taxi a little insane.</p><p>“But where is Br’aad? And Sylnan?” Taxi tries again to get a… coherent response. He shrugs again. “The underbelly.” He says. Taxi takes a deep breath but is interrupted by Mountain before he can lose his mind. “What happened?”</p><p>Hilltree is silent for a minute, thinking. “We saw a blue orc.” That’s not good. “Br’aad turned into the… the fancy guy. The evil fancy guy!” Hilltree waves his arms around. “Jaquot? Mountain asks, and he nods. That’s <em>not</em> good.</p><p>Taxi starts pacing. “They saw me. Br’aad pretended to be mean. He kicked me. Hurt my feelings…” Hilltree sniffles a bit and stops there. Taxi began mumbling a litany of “No, no, no, no, no..” to himself, still pacing. Velrissa just sighed.</p><p>Mountain asks where they are, Hilltree says ‘probably still there’. Taxi blurts “What if they’re in danger?!”. Mountain nods along like he was expecting it. Nothing comes out of anyone’s mouth. “Come on! Hilltree is here alone, and we all know how Br’aad’s plans go! They could need help!” Taxi repeats, quite desperately.</p><p>Velrissa steps in. “I think we need to prepare before we can go into battle again.” She states, always seeming serene and calm. “Now is not the time for relaxation! They could be dead!” Taxi says, and Mountain scoffs. “Then we’d die going after them.”</p><p>Not on Taxi’s watch. He bends down to Hilltree and puts a hand on the goblin’s shoulder. “Can you take us back there?” Hilltree nods. “Guess so. But I’m hungry…” Despite his voiced reluctance, Mountain pulls out rations and gives them to Hilltree. “Eat on the way there.” And the four of them set off.</p><p>As they finally made it to the Thieve’s Den, the underbelly, there was no familiar face to be found. Hilltree leads them to an entrance to the sewers, and they go down. They smell it. Mountain points the smell out. Its blood. Taxi sees the trail after Mountain’s observation, the seemingly fresher blood heading up the way they came down.</p><p>No. No, no, no.</p><p>“We need to go back up.” Taxi says, edging on hysteria. Mountain looks at him. “What? We need to go after the bad guys. I’m pretty sure they’re not where we came from.” Taxi widens his eyes. “Are you serious? No. I need to find them. You see the blood, don’t you? What if it’s theirs?” Mountain shakes his head. “Then go. I’m looking for the orc and Brenden.” They both look to Velrissa.</p><p>She sighs again and sends Mountain an apologetic look. “I’m going to go with Taxi. Please, be careful.” She says finally and Mountain nods once.</p><p>Taxi forgets again. He forgets about the mission, forgets what he was thinking about 5 minutes before, forgets about Oriana. All that went through his mind was a certain half-elf. A stupid half-elf that pulls stupid gags and acts on stupid plans impulsively. How he could be laying on the cold, cobblestone road with gashes and broken bones. How he could be dead. All because of the stupid party split.</p><p>He was worried about the wrong half-elf.</p><p>As they climb up the rope ladder and exit the sewer, they notice a crowd. A large one. That’s never good. His mind instantly goes to Br’aad. Taxi races over, pushing through the crowd as Velrissa follows close behind.</p><p>No. No, no, no.</p><p>There is Sylnan, lying lifeless on the cold, cobblestone road. There is Br’aad, his hands lit up purple with magic, repeatedly pushing into his brother. Velrissa gasps. Br’aad glances at the two and cries out “Vel, help me.” Taxi takes one look at Br’aad and has to look away. Who is that? That's not him. His usual look of amusement has been screwed into shock and sorrow. Tears are trailing down his face, where they never should be.</p><p>Taxi turns around as Velrissa gets closer, inspecting Sylnan for a moment before saying, morosely: “I think… Br’aad. I think he’s dead.” He hears Br’aad whimper, followed by “Work with me here.” Velrissa crouches down, saying a simple “Br’aad.” Taxi hears the most broken and hurt “Please?” Exit Br’aad’s mouth, and looks towards the crowd.</p><p>“Everyone clear out. Now!” He booms, and it seems to send the majority away. He turns back to Br’aad, Vel, and Sylnan and crouches down. Br’aad continues to try to magic his brother better, to no avail.</p><p>Velrissa looks between the two and checks Sylnan’s pulse, closing her eyes. “Br’aad, there’s nothing I can do. He’s dead.” Br’aad looks at her and says “You’re dead!” Velrissa opens her eyes and smiles sourly: “No. I’m not.”. Br’aad chucks out a weak “Fuck you.” In response. He doesn’t mean it.</p><p>Br’aad shakes his head, dropping his hands to his lap. The purple light dims. “No. You have all this heal-y magic and there’s nothing you can do? Vel, please.” Velrissa sends him a pitying look and casts a spell. Nothing happens.</p><p>Taxi can feel the pain, the regret, the… the sadness radiating from the man beside him. He watches as Br’aad drops his head on Sylnan’s chest. “Why here? In the sewers? Fuck.” Taxi hears him mumble, and wow, his heart breaks even more.</p><p>Taxi never liked death. Or violence in general. Sure, he fights when he needs to, but he never wants to. As a druid, he believes that most everyone has at least a bit of good of them. And to see Sylnan lying dead in front of him, most likely from protecting his brother, is devastating. Because despite the bad things he might have done in the past, he did it all for Br’aad. And Taxi respects that. But in no way is he hurting as much as Br’aad is.</p><p>Suddenly, Sylnan’s arm clutches onto Br’aad. It’s evil magic, constricting Br’aad, strangling him. But he just lays there.</p><p>Taxi finally springs into action, pulling Br’aad back as Velrissa pries the hand from his neck. The hand drops lifelessly once more as Taxi holds Br’aad back, ignoring his struggling and weak protests (although it pains him unbearably to). Taxi turns his harsh grasp into more of a hug, and whispers “I’m sorry I wasn’t there.” Because he is.</p><p>He’s always felt like the weakest one in the group. Hell, even if he was there, he wouldn’t have been able to prevent this. Even so, he’d rather be the one lying dead if it spared Br’aad the trauma. He looks up to Vel and glances at Br’aad. “We should move to somewhere more private.” Taxi says.</p><p>Br’aad breaks from his grasp and moves back near his brother. He looks Taxi in the eyes, and Taxi sees it. The pain. “There’s no ‘we’, Taxi. Not right now.” There is regret on Br’aad’s face after he says it, and it hurts. Even if he didn’t mean it. His expression turns miserable as he turns his gaze back to Sylnan.</p><p>And, oh. Taxi realizes. He <em>really</em> realizes. He’d do anything to keep that expression off Br’aad’s face. And he’s in love with him.</p>
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